Forget the Pilgrims and the big feast they were supposed to have had with the neighboring indigenous folk back in 1621. The first feast was never repeated, so it wasn’t the beginning of a tradition.

The colonists didn’t call the day Thanksgiving. To them, thanksgiving was a religious observation and they would have gone to church and thanked God for a specific event. That observation alone would have eradicated the feast because it was deemed a secular observation, according to historians.

The big question comes next: Did they eat turkey during the first feast? Again, historians believe the first celebrants dined on many fowl, vegetables and probably some venison, but for turkey — nobody seems to be sure of that because there’s no record.

It was in the mid-1800s when Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, used the 1621 gathering as a model for a yearly holiday. She published recipes for turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie — things that had nothing to do with the first folks to celebrate harvest feasts.

Hale came up with the idea shortly after President Abraham Lincoln declared the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving in 1863.

So, now, in the 21st century and about a week out from Thanksgiving, people run to their local groceries and pick over the turkeys to find the best one for their method of preparing.

A talk with a couple of meat managers in Selma, Kelvin Jackson at Calhoun Foods and James Vogler at Winn-Dixie on Dallas Avenue informed us more people like frying their birds than baking them these days. Neither of the guys talked about smoking a turkey.

Vogler said he learned about frying turkey from his wife’s cousin who hails from Louisiana. The cousin began frying the birds about 30 years ago. He’d buy a suitable bird — not too large — liquid garlic, liquid onion and (this was in the days before the injectors) go to the local farm cooperative and purchase a large hypodermic, like the kinds cattle farmers use, to inject the flavor inside the bird.

Apparently it worked. Vogler swears by the fried bird.

But, he said, those who want to fry should be prepared to spend a little extra for the pleasure of dining. First, there’s the grease.

“It takes four gallons of grease,” Vogler said. “It’s expensive to fry them, that’s why most people go in together. You’re talking about $30 for grease and ingredients just to fry it.”

Jackson and Vogler recommend getting the smaller turkeys to fry.

“Between eight-to-12 pound turkey is what you want to deal with to be able to fry,” Jackson said. “You want to get your injectors, I think it’s Tony’s seasoning injectors, and you want to inject them, then put them in the fryer, probably 30 minutes.”

Vogler said a good rule for frying turkeys is three minutes per pound, so an 8-pound turkey would take about 24 minutes, and a 12-pound turkey about 36 minutes.

But if you want to bake that bird in the traditional way, Jackson said to clean them good, stuff them and let them sit in the oven at 300-degrees.

“When it is done, the timer will pop up,” he said.

Or, if in doubt, use a meat thermometer in the thickest portion of the breast. If it reads 165 degrees, the turkey is done.

Oh, if you’re still trying to decide whether to buy the store brand or the famous name-brand turkey for your table, Vogler said the name is about all that matters. Most turkeys that wind up on dinner tables for Thanksgiving come from six major farms in the United States.

“Most come from the same farm, no matter who sells them,” he said.

Facts about turkeys

• The largest turkey for Thanksgiving weighed in at 86 pounds.
• Winn-Dixie on Dallas Avenue will sell 16,000 pounds of turkeys for Thanksgivig Day.
• A Tom turkey weights 16 pounds or more and is usually less tender than the hen, which weighs less than 16 pounds.
• Neutered turkeys are tender like the hens, no matter the weight.
• Benjamin Franklin argued for the turkey to be the national bird rather than the bald eagle.
• Turkeys are the only breed of poultry native to the Western Hemisphere.

— Sources: James Vogler, Kelvin Jackson and U.S. Department of Agriculture